The final cut of Andrew Tingley’s documentary about the Ferris State University Marching Band’s return after more than three decades premieres homecoming weekend at the Big Rapids Theater.

Showtimes for “Ferris State Marching Band Documentary” are 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25, and 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26. Tickets are $7.50 at the door, but both presentations have limited seating. The band encourages donations at the screenings.

Tingley, an assistant professor of Television and Digital Media Production in Ferris State’s School of Digital Media, produced and directed the film. He followed the band from its first camp in 2025 through its first season back. The film runs about 40 minutes, and he is cutting a 26-minute and a 36-second version for PBS.

Although not a feature length, the film is full circle for Tingley, who played trombone at Portage Central High School and graduated from Ferris State in 2004.

“I love being a part of things that are bigger than me and feeling like I'm part of the marching band again,” Tingley said.

Starting as an idea from former Provost Bobby Fleischman, the film explores why the band disappeared and how it returned as other colleges cut marching bands and arts programs.

Scott Cohen, a retired professor of music and chair of the Department of Humanities, launched the effort to revive the band, and Ferris State hired Daniel Atwood to lead it. President Bill Pink, who once played bass drum in a marching band, also appears in the film.

Atwood calls the band “the front porch of the university,” where prospective students get a look at what Ferris State offers. Ferris State has no music major, so every member studies something else.

"They're all doing this just because they want to be a part of it," Atwood said.

An earlier cut of the documentary screened at the Festival of the Arts in February. After hearing community feedback, Tingley recorded more interviews over the summer and worked them into the film. His marching experience shaped his camerawork.

"One of the things that I currently teach students is when they're operating a Steadicam, I always say walk like you're in the marching band," Tingley said.

At camp, he marched inside the band’s drill to get his shots and mounted GoPro cameras on instruments. The hardest part, he said, was time: The band rehearsed constantly to bring the music and marching together.

"Get in there and just be a part of the marching band and get the shots that nobody else is going to see sitting in the stands," he said.

Knowing he couldn’t do it alone, Tingley needed a crew and didn’t have to look far to find one. Two students in a senior television and digital media production class helped with shoots, including a band performance at LMCU Ballpark. On football game days, while Tingley taught his remote television production class from the broadcast trailer, students covered the band on the field.

The shoots produced far more B-roll than the film could hold.

"It could easily be an hour, hour and a half full feature documentary," Tingley said. "But I'm just at the point where it needs to be done, and we need to get this story out there."

After the premiere, Tingley plans to submit the film to the National Educational Telecommunications Association, which makes programs available to PBS stations nationwide.

Review and scheduling take eight to 12 weeks, and each station decides whether to air it. Distribution through the association is nonexclusive, so he may also release the film on YouTube, Vimeo or Amazon, or host it on marchingbandfilm.com, where he posts updates.

Atwood hopes to eventually send prospective students a link.

"It could be a huge recruitment tool for us, for sure," he said.

_{Release and photo courtesy of Ferris State University.}